Thesis Statement How to frame a Thesis Statement? And is there any method to check if your Thesis Statement is correct?
It is nothing, it is everything
The above statement is not a paradox, rather it aptly describes the nature of Thesis Statement. When I say it is nothing, I mean that it’s not as complicated as academies and online mentors these days have made it seem like. Secondly, when I say it is everything, I’m hinting at its importance. Because your whole essay would revolve around this central idea, therefore, you must frame the Thesis Statement in a wholesome manner. It should be articulated in a precise but complete way.
Before going on to describe the method in which a thesis statement is to be written, one must ask: Why is it even important?
Honestly, when I was preparing for CSS back in 2010 and 11, this part of the essay wasn’t much in discussion. Towards the end of my preparation, I heard about it. But I wasn’t bothered too much. Till then, I kept things very simple. My mentor told me that an introduction in the essay involves three things.
One, a direct starting point, the first line.
Two, everything noteworthy from your outline.
Three, a concluding sentence of the introduction.
Back in my days, life was simple, and so was everything including essay. Therefore, I didn’t include a Thesis Statement in my exam and I still managed to get 47 in a very dry and technical essay. I’m not downplaying the importance of Thesis Statement, I’m just telling you that you don’t need to worry about it.
But these days, the things that didn’t matter are trending and academies and these online gurus, in an effort to make guidance sale-worthy, are making life for candidate too hard. Every other day, every other candidate is asking about “How to write a Thesis Statement?” Therefore, I just want to ease you guys a little bit and tell you that it’s not that difficult a thing.
First things first, thesis statement is basically a sentence (or two) that describes the position that you will take in the essay. Mostly, it’s for persuasive or argumentative essays (keep this in mind), but some people also frame a Thesis Statement for descriptive essays as well. It is the summary of your arguments that you will be making in the essay. Summary doesn’t mean summing up all arguments in one long sentence, here summary means writing the central idea of your arguments: the point that your essay intends to prove.
Secondly, this statement will inform your reader about your interpretation of the topic. It’s not necessary that everyone must interpret something the same way. Your interpretation might differ with mine. Therefore, as long as you have strong arguments for something, you are good to go.
Thirdly, the Thesis Statement offers a roadmap, a plan of the whole write up. It informs the checker what to expect from your essay since the Thesis Statement provides an overview of the points you are going to make in a precise but succinct manner.
Fourthly, the Thesis Statement is a claim that others might not agree with. But remember what I said earlier. It doesn’t matter how others look at it, unless you have got very strong points about it. But remember this too that you don’t necessarily need to stand out and be different from the rest of the candidates.
Finally, the Thesis Statement is usually a single sentence or maximum of two sentences, but I’ve seen candidates writing a whole paragraph in the name of a Thesis Statement. Ye zulm band hona chahiye. Kindly try to reduce it to one, nhn hota to maximum do jumley. It comes in the introductory paragraph, mostly in the middle or the last part of the essay. Some people like me also prefer it at the first one-third of introduction. So, it is not a big deal as long as it is logically connected and doesn’t seem off-putting. The rest of your paper will organise the arguments and evidences to persuade the checker of your logic.
HOW TO FRAME A THESIS STATEMENT?
Here, I would like to shake you a little bit because what I’m going to tell you might be a little different from what you have been sold (not told) by the various online mentors and gurus.
“Don’t write a Thesis Statement first and then think about evidence.”
What most aspirants do is that they look at the topic, make up their mind, and then think on that particular line of thought. This is an extremely wrong approach because it locks up your mind and you start thinking in one direction. It’s possible that the line that you have taken is wrong. Therefore, what I advise to the aspirants is that they should first organise all the data, all the evidence, all the ideas and all the facts and only then see what direction their essay should take.
Once the evidence, the contrasting arguments or similar arguments are collected, you can start developing your Thesis Statement because now it will give you an overall sense of what you are going to write. Now you can write a working Thesis Statement and develop the arguments, similarities, and contrasts that you can reflect in your outline as well. You can refer to my post on “How to Generate Ideas?” posted on my timeline.
IS YOUR THESIS STATEMENT STRONG ENOUGH?
It’s not enough to just think about a Thesis Statement and start writing it in the paper. Before you do that, one must seek to determine if the developed Thesis Statement is really worthy of finally putting it on the paper. But how can one determine this?
It’s really simple. Just ask yourself these few questions.
1. Does this Thesis Statement answer the Problem?
For instance, the Essay is about any problem just as “Gender Equality is a myth in Pakistan”. Here, you need to see whether you have actually proved or disproved this argument. If you have taken the pro stance, then have you actually proved that the Gender equality is a myth in Pakistan? Have you given enough arguments or reasons to prove your point? Have you actually given enough examples from Pakistan? Or you have just jumped to cause-effect and recommendations without giving significant space to the stance that you have taken?
2. Is this Thesis Statement specific enough?
One of the major mistakes while writing a Thesis Statement is that numerous aspirants write vague or too broad Thesis Statement. If the Statement is too vague, it means that it is not strong enough. Therefore, make it specific. For instance, you are given a topic such as Human Development and Economic sustainability (CSS-2022), then you should not give a Thesis Statement like these:
Human development is important for economic sustainability.
Or
Economic sustainability breeds human development.
Such Thesis Statements are vague and weak. It’s just repetition of the topic or at best you can just call it a paraphrased topic. Rather than writing such a vague Statement, one should be specific. For example:
“Human development and economic sustainability are intertwined since one can not exist without another.”
Or
“It is impossible for any nation to bring about human development without gaining economic sustainability since growth in economy is directly proportional to investment in human capital.”
Similarly, the Thesis Statement for the topic “Digital Democracy: Social Media and Political Participation” (CSS-2022) must not look like this.
Political participation through social media is vital for new age digital democracy.
Rather, it must look something like this, or if you can, make it even better:
With the growing reliance on digital technology, political participation through various social media platforms has made people critical consumers of information as well as informed voters.
3. Is this Thesis Statement in consonance with the rest of the body of essay?
If the answer to that question is yes, we’ll, congratulations. If not, then you must look at the data and arguments again and frame your statement accordingly. Many aspirants wander here and there in their essay. Many a time their essays are jumbled up argumentative/cause-effect/opportunity-challenge/way forward/recommendations essay.
You cannot do that. Follow a proper sequence. Does the essay want you to write challenges? If no, then don’t. If yes, then don’t skip. Do you need to give recommendations? Not in every essay unless you have given a Thesis Statement that aims to resolve a problem.
Let’s take an example: Pleasures of Reading.
This essay does not require any recommendations unless you have tried to prove that people these days are too distracted and hence unaware of pleasures afforded by reading. Only such a thesis statement can carry recommendations as to how to make people feel more inclined towards reading, how to make books more accessible and how to make digital market more reader friendly.
I hope this guide will help you in getting many answers
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